The present invention relates to a novel (meth)acrylate compound having a polyphenylene ether (to be sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9cPPExe2x80x9d hereinafter) skeleton, a curable resin composition containing the above compound and a cured product thereof. The (meth)acrylate compound of the present invention can provide a polymer material excellent in heat resistance and dielectric characteristics by polymerizing the (meth)acrylic compound itself or copolymerizing the (meth)acrylic compound and a different unsaturated compound. Further, a photosensitive resin composition can be obtained by combining the (meth)acrylate compound of the present invention with a photopolymerization initiator. Such a photosensitive resin composition can be widely used for various applications such as a resin for a resist, a resin for a builup wiring board, a resin for sealing a liquid-crystal display panel, a resin for a color filter of a liquid crystal, a UV coating composition, various coating agents and an additive.
Conventionally, (meth)acrylate compounds are widely used as a raw material for various functional polymer materials such as a photosensitive material, an optical material, a dental material, an electronic material and crosslinking agents for various polymers. However, since higher performances are required in these application fields in recent years, physical properties required as a functional polymer material become severer increasingly. As such physical properties, for example, heat resistance, weather resistance, low moisture absorptivity, high refractive index, high fracture toughness, low dielectric constant and low dielectric loss tangent are required, as disclosed in JP-A-11-214815. Until now, these required physical properties have not been completely satisfied.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel (meth)acrylate compound having excellent heat resistance and having a low dielectric constant and a low dielectric loss tangent, a curable resin composition containing the above compound and a cured product thereof.
The present invention provides a (meth)acrylate compound represented by the formula (1) or the formula (2), 
wherein each of R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 is independently a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, each of R6, R7 and R8 is independently a linear, branched or cyclic hydrocarbon having or less carbon atoms, xe2x80x94(Oxe2x80x94Xxe2x80x94O)xe2x80x94 is represented by the formula (3) (in which A is a linear, branched or cyclic hydrocarbon having 20 or less carbon atoms, each of R9, R10, R15 and R16 is independently a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms or a phenyl group and each of R11, R12, R13 and R14 is independently a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms or a phenyl group) or the formula (4) (in which each of R17, R18, R19 R23 and R24 is independently a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms or a phenyl group and each of R20, R21 and R22 is independently a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms or a phenyl group), xe2x80x94(Yxe2x80x94O)xe2x80x94 is an arrangement of one kind of structure defined by the formula (5) or a random arrangement of at least two kinds of structures defined by the formula (5) (in which each of R25 and R26 is independently a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms or a phenyl group, and each of R27 and R28 is independently a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms or a phenyl group), Z is an organic group which has at least one carbon atom and which may contain an oxygen atom, a nitrogen atom, a sulfur atom or a halogen atom, Z is preferably an organic group which has 1 to 10 carbon atoms and which may contain an oxygen atom, each of a and b is an integer of 0 to 30, provided that at least either a or b is not 0, each of c and d is an integer of 0 or 1, and n is an integer of 0 to 10.
The present invention further provides a curable resin composition containing the above (meth)acrylate compound.
The present invention further provides a cured product obtained by curing the above curable resin composition.